<\/p>\nGuitarist Trey Anastasio\u2019s image reflects in Page McConnell\u2019s piano as Phish plays the first of a two-night run at Kohl Center in Madison.<\/p>\n
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RUTHIE HAUGE<\/span> That unpredictability has cultivated one of the most dedicated fan communities in popular music. Guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, drummer Jon Fishman, and keyboardist Page McConnell have spent nearly four decades developing the kind of chemistry that lets songs become launchpads into lengthy jams.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Phish fans love face-melting jams<\/h3>\n\n
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\n <\/p>\nA balloon with a smiley face drawn on it lands on stage in front of Trey Anastasio as he plays guitar with Phish during the first of a two-night run at Kohl Center in Madison.<\/p>\n
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RUTHIE HAUGE<\/span> Before the lights even dimmed, strangers passed each other on the way to their seats with the same greeting: \u201cHave a great show!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
To be a Phish fan is to measure life in shows attended: first shows, milestone shows, legendary shows. Sporting a \u201c100th Phish show!\u201d T-shirt, Madison native Ryan Ayres said he has found community at Phish shows.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s a family reunion for so many of us,” said Ayres, who reunited with friends (and fellow fans) from Colorado and Alaska. He first saw Phish in 2009.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\n <\/p>\nFans jam to Phish at the first of a two-night run at Kohl Center in Madison.<\/p>\n
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RUTHIE HAUGE<\/span> The band took the stage around 7:30 p.m. From the opening notes of \u201cChalk Dust Torture,\u201d Anastasio\u2019s grin rarely left his face, setting the tone for a nine-song first set that leaned into uptempo jams with \u201cBack On The Train and \u201cFree.\u201d After ending the set with \u201cWeekapaug Groove\u201d and \u201cCharacter Zero,\u201d the band had welcomed fans like Middleton resident Ryan Cigler back into the Phish sound.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was one of the best sets I\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d Cigler said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Following a 20-minute set break, the crowd again embraced the electric atmosphere of the first set. Like many Phish shows, the Kohl Center carried the vibes, with tie-dye-clad fans, free-flowing dancing and the occasional waft of cannabis smoke blending into a communal celebration that has long been part of the band\u2019s culture.<\/p>\n
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\n <\/p>\nPhish plays the first of a two-night run at Kohl Center in Madison. This is only the second time Phish has played Kohl Center and the first time since 1998.<\/p>\n
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RUTHIE HAUGE<\/span> \u2018A completely different level\u2019<\/h3>\n A defining stretch of the concert came during the second set, when Phish leaned into the weirder, more experimental side of their music.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRun Like an Antelope\u201d provided an explosive start. Then a sprawling, 26-minute rendition of \u201cFuego\u201d became the centerpiece of the evening. Built almost entirely on improvisation, the performance felt less like a song than the band collectively reaching a flow state, taking the crowd on a journey to get lost in.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\n <\/p>\nTrey Anastasio plays guitar with Phish during the first of a two-night run at Kohl Center in Madison.<\/p>\n
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RUTHIE HAUGE<\/span> Kansas resident Kate Iselin has seen Phish more than 60 times, and finds the experience at its best in these moments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy favorite part about a Phish show is when you\u2019re in the middle of a jam and you don\u2019t even remember what song they\u2019re playing. They transport you to a completely different level \u2026 you don\u2019t remember where it started,\u201d Iselin said.<\/p>\n
For San Francisco fan Tyler Dixon, who traveled to Madison for the tour opener, that feeling goes beyond the music.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like Trey opens a portal,\u201d Dixon said. \u201cThere\u2019s this transference of energy between the band and the crowd that you just give yourself over to.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n <\/p>\nA balloon animal is bounced around the room during Phish\u2019s first show of a two-night run at Kohl Center in Madison.<\/p>\n
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RUTHIE HAUGE<\/span> Just after 11 p.m., Phish closed its summer tour opener with a two-song encore featuring \u201cSlave To The Traffic Light\u201d and \u201cSay It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.\u201d\u00a0 before thousands of fans streamed into the night, already speculating about what Wednesday\u2019s setlist might hold.<\/p>\n
For Iselin, the show felt right. \u201cIt\u2019s always like coming home,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source captimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cap Times is an independent newsroom serving Madison and Wisconsin. Sign up for the Food & Culture newsletter for exclusive weekly insight. Every Phish show generates its own mythology. In Madison that mythology dates back to 1998, when the band\u2019s last appearance at the Kohl Center was nearly upstaged by an onstage streaker.\u00a0 This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2494885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2494884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Phish-makes-a-new-mythology-in-Madison-Music.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2494884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2494884"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2494884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2494886,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2494884\/revisions\/2494886"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2494885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2494884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2494884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2494884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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